1st Annual HOUSE A VET Music Fest

$7 in advance / $10 at the gate

Wang Dang Doodle

Mike Lebon

Waiting on Chuck

Cassidy Daniels

Switch n' Whisky

House A Vet

Where we came from, where we are, where do we go from here

November 2013 We started with the idea of helping Habitat For Humanity to build a Home for a Veteran in need. We soon realized we may only be able to help one veteran. (As of today we have not been able to place a Veteran in a Habitat house.)  In December 2013 We stared our home maintenance program with a simple fix of leaky faucets and running toilets for a WW II to widow that was going outside to turn the water on and off every time she used her kitchen and bath sinks or flushed her toilets because she could not afford her water and sewer bill , a building a ramp for a Vietnam Veteran confined to a wheelchair which started our partnership with Home Depot that has assisted Veterans in need with over sixty thousand dollars in grants over the years. But most project’s like making a Veterans Home ADA compliant after a massive stroke is done through local fundraising consent and always ongoing battle. Funding for home maintenance program is our hardest hurdle to overcome.  

We tried our hand at temporary housing with the Lundberg-McMahon Veteran Home, which provided temporary housing for Veterans in need of a permanent Home. That turned out to be one of our few failures.

Our weekly Homeless Outreach mobile pantry program works with a local soup kitchen that prepares the meals we deliver along with hygiene products and camp supplies. One of our proudest success stories is Dave R., a 60-year-old Navy veteran who only receives a small disability income. We visited him weekly for about 9 months to a year in a camp he lived in by himself.  He always kept his camp clean, neat and orderly and was quite content telling us there had to be a veteran that could use the help more than him. One day during one of our weekly visits, he asked if we could help him get out of the woods. When we asked him why he was ready to get out of the woods, he replied that it was because he could no longer protect himself or his property. Apparently the night before another, younger homeless man decided he liked Dave's camp more than Dave and tried to attack him with a machete. Thankfully, his friend Jim in a nearby camp called 911. We reached out to all our community partners and had Dave and his friend in a townhouse in Port St. Lucie within the week. AND ALL OF THIS IS DONE BY VOLUNTEERS NO ONE RECEIVES COMPENSATION other than a cold drink.

Now as for the vision we have for House A Vet as we start our Seventh year we would like to start paying some of our lead volunteers for a better retention rate. Also to be able to hire a counseling staff to help our homeless Veteran to reintegrate back into society and our most ambitious goal is a veteran community of tiny homes with a central community center housing social services support available to our veterans.